Intern Experience Week #13

The work in my PDS's this semester was drastically different. I spent the first 5 weeks of the semester in a self-contained middle school classroom working with students in grades 6-8 and then the remained of the time I was in a 5Th grade social studies/science classroom teaching all 5Th grade students. I believe that I am a more well rounded pre-service teacher because of my experience in these very different placement, and the opportunity to work with such a diverse group of students.
For my 5 week placement I was teaching all subjects to students with a variety of needs in grades 6-8 all in one classroom. This was very challenging because I wasn't just providing support to what the students were doing in the regular classroom like I had in previous special education experience, but instead in charge of their every curriculum need. My mentor teacher and I built a relationship very quickly because of the necessity of getting me teaching right away since I was only there for a short amount of time. The work was challenging at first because I needed to create whole group instruction as well as small to reach every student and every learners needs. This classroom was also the first time that I was working with students that had sever behavioral and emotional disabilities. It was also very important for me to build a beneficial relationship for my mentor teacher as well so I made sure that I was keeping track of students work, grading assignments and doing anything and everything she asked me to do. Also turning my lesson plans in early to her helped build the professional relationship needed so that she would trust me in her classroom. I really value everything that she taught me in her classroom I definitely grew from our experience working together.
Then when I returned to my home PDS I was placed in a 5th grade social studies classroom in order to provide me experience in teaching middle school social studies since I have a 5-9 certification. This was the first time in a while that I was placed in a general education classroom. Also these 5th grade students were on the highest level that I had taught thus far. Even though I was placed in a middle school those students were working on a 3rd and 4th grade level, so working with the general education population at this academic level had me a little nervous. I had also never had a class that instructed me on teaching social studies at this level so with all of these factors playing a part I was anxious to see what would come. I was very lucky to be placed with a mentor teaching that was understanding of my lack of experience in teaching social studies and very willing to work with me. Instead of teaching right away I would observe him teach one block then I would teach the same lesson in the next and we would discuss what I did well and then improvements. This was very beneficial because I was able to readjust or try new things in different classes because I was teaching the same lesson three times a day. Sometimes it got a little boring doing the same thing, but it was a nice change as well. It was also beneficial to have my special education background because sometimes I would use some of the techniques I used with that particular student population in my general education classroom if a concept was giving them trouble. I believe that my mentor teacher and I were able to form a beneficial relationship because I was able to share my knowledge about special education and he about science, social studies, and behavioral management in the classroom. I also was able to form a professional relationship with my teacher by always being prepared for class with lessons, material and grading assignments. We would co-teach often and discuss planning as a team. I hope to return to this classroom and other 5th grade classrooms in the spring and continue building my professional relationship with my mentor teacher. I plan on using technology to enhance teaching in the classroom and plan on introducing different ways of using technology with my mentor teacher.

Intern Experience Week #12

This past week at my PDS I wrapped up a 5 week unit on the Civil War. We spent a great deal of time on the battles that played a very important part in the ending of the war and focused on the important individuals during this final stretch of war. The first half of the week the students learned about the battles at Vicksburg and Chancellorsville. Each battle was covered because of their significant to the side the victory was for. The students spent equal time researching each battle and then were given the option to choose one or the other to complete a battle summary on. The students were also provided with additional books to use as resources for their summary. The books had a lot of paintings and real like pictures of the battles that students could use in order to recreate their battle picture.
After this we went straight into the battle of Gettysburg which was the first battle in our entire unit where students had some prior knowledge about. I took advantage of this and held a lot of large group discussions where students could share information they knew and if they had ever visited Gettysburg. I used a teaching style of lecture mixed with technology. I felt that if I lectured about a particular topic or event then showed a brief video clip the students may comprehend more compared to watching one large video where they would loose focus. The students seemed to do well this this and were able to recall a lot of information about the battle.
Finally on Friday we came to an end of our Civil War study with a section on Appomattox. For this section I lectured and held discussion on the topic and then showed an 11 minute video clip that lead up to the next section we will cover after Christmas, which was the assassination of Lincoln. After this students were given 4 options which were to be their final grade in this unit. Students were given directions and explained that this project needed to represent their best work possible. They could either write a Gettysburg battle summary, Gettysburg newspaper, Sherman's march newspaper, or Appomattox newspaper. After receiving the assignments turned in today I was presently surprised to see a variety in topics were chosen.

Intern Experience Week #11

Last week at my PDS was a very exciting and rewarding week of teaching. I taught a lot of lessons that went very well and the students seemed to be into them. We focused a lot on major battles and important people during the war. My students worked on computers one day researching an individual that they chose from a list provided. The had the choice of either Union, Confederate, or Civilian. I provided students with a guide to help aid in their research because with the information they found they were going to be creating a type of information card, modeled after a baseball card to represent their person. The card needed to include all of the information they needed to find from their guide, a picture and then either the confederate or union flag as the background behind their person. Over all the students did a really good job with this assignment, and it is always nice to use technology.
The following day I introduced a lesson where we explored important battles like Bull Run and Antietam. We read from the text, did reading questions and watched video clips to help aid students in comprehension. Once we did all of these instruction steps the students were then again given a guide for them to fill in information and they were to pick one of the two battles to create a battle summary. My mentor teacher also had a lot of Civil War books in his classroom so the students were able to use these as a resource to look at pictures which helped in the picture portion of the summary. I think the students liked it because they get interested into the bloody aspects of war, but they had a lot of trouble writing a summary. They have written summaries in other classes and I did explain it, but a lot of them just presented the information like a baseball card. It was frustrating because I know they just weren't listening. I am doing all of these different activities with them but they still seem to be bored with the content.
Finally on Thursday and Friday we spent two days using the book Pink and Say. The students loved it and were really into the story. One the first day we did a picture walk and discussed what they thought the book was going to be about and then I introduced them to important new vocabulary that we would come across in the book. Next we started to read the study and got about half way done on day one and then finished it on day two. As we read, a lot of discussion developed and the students had a lot of questions. When they found out it was a true story at the end of the book a lot of them were astonished and it prompted even more questions. I was very happy with the outcome of using this book and plan on using it in my own future classrooms.

Intern Experience Week #10

This past week at my PDS I was able to integrate creative arts into a lot of my lessons. This worked well because I was able to see my students work with regular textbook assignments vs. creative assignments on the same content. The week really focused on the Civil War and I introduced students to the first battles and important figures or people in the war. These important people were both Union and Confederate as well as citizens. I tried to switch up my instruction by having students use their book for a source of information and then watch videos about the same content in order for them to have a visual to go along with the information in the text.
First we worked on the election of 1860 and the students were introduced to Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. We read about a lot of their differences in political views as well as their physical differences. The students also used a Venn Diagram to organize the information about their similarities and differences. Then they used this information to create a political cartoon. I was able to show students examples of political cartoons and we discussed why they were important because at this time newspapers were the only way to get information. Newspapers were also a popular form of entertainment. Then we watched and read about the Battle at Fort Sumpter. The students were then given guidelines to create a front page of a newspaper to inform people on the battle. We held a discussion on appropriate names for a paper and eye catching headlines.
Lastly I created an activity where I used digital photos that I had taken from the field trip the week before. I explained to my students that I saw a lot of them using their own cameras on the field trip so I used the photos I took as a way for them to see that they could use their photos in an educational way. I made several hard copies of the photos and numbered them. The each student picked a photo and had to write about the photo plus three sentences about the field trip. My teacher also played a slide show of his own photos for the students to watch as they worked on their own photo. I think that the students really enjoyed this activity. A lot of them wrote more then what was asked of them.
Overall, pretty good week. I am getting more comfortable in my teaching of social studies so I am starting to enjoy it a lot more.

Intern Experience Week #9

This past week the majority of my teaching and content focus was on the Underground Railroad. I introduced the material using a section of the book and then had my students work through an interactive website from scholastic.com. The site was introduced to me by my mentor teacher because he has used it in the past with his students. The site was great it offered a variety of visual aids like photos and slides shows for students to gather information to answer each of the 4 sections questions. The site also in each section had students listen to the experience of a run away slave named Walter and his experience traveling on the Underground Railroad that was related to the information students were learning through the site. After the students were done going over each section by listening to the material and looking at the pictures they used the information to answer reading questions and then took those reading questions and formed informational sentences. They would then use the informational sentences to create a paragraph and picture in order to create a Underground Railroad information book.
Overall the students did really well with the activities. I had planned for them to do each section on their own using the laptop lab but the computer gave more trouble so we ended up having to go through the sections as a large class and discuss the answers for each questions together. It was nice because I knew they had no excuse to not have the correct information for their writing. I then had the students create and illustration to go along with their writing. The students also received a large piece of paper that they folded in half to create a cover and binding for their 4 different Underground Railroad information pages.
Then on Friday we went on a class field trip to Phillipi because it is the site of the first land battle in the Civil War. It was very interesting for me because I am not from West Virginia and it was cool to see the town and different important sites. I also had no idea how close it was to the community that my PDS is located in. The students did a walking tour or the town and sites and then we went to and old mansion and toured that. It was cool to be learning along side my students during the trip on Friday.

Intern Experience Week #8

Very frustrating week at my PDS, I am just having a very difficult time teaching social studies because it has been so long since I had a history/ social studies related class, and our EDUC class was not a help what so ever. Yes it was good for lower elementary students, but I have a middle school (5-9) social studies certification and I feel like I am totally no prepared and have never even been given a course to help me out at all. Because of this I am constantly looking for information online watching videos and just have 10 times more work added to the large work load with full time teaching that we already have.
I started a unit on the Civil War this past week and it was a disaster. I prepped for it did a lot for research and I still feel like it crashed and burned. I really don't know what more I could have done to make it any better. It is also very difficult because students just typically don't like history. I love it and try and be as passionate as possible but I just have students roll their eyes at me and it makes me feel like why and I even trying. My mentor teacher has been great and I have asked to go back to the I watch him teach one block then I go and teach the next. Its frustrating to have to be doing that so late in the game but I feel horrible to try and do a OK job teaching it to my students because I am totally lost. I also think that because of the 5 week SPED placement I felt totally rushed and like I had to start teaching only after watch for a few days. I know a program can't be perfect but I mean I'm trying to be as diverse as possible in my certification and I feel like it is just hurting me instead of helping.

Intern Experience Week #7

This past week was my first week of full time teaching in my new placement in the 5th grade. The week started off with a review of immigration and different immigrant ethnic groups which focused on content that was in their social studies textbook. The students had been working with the topic of immigration in their reading class and had worked a lot with Ellis Island, therefore they had a good idea of the topic and a lot of recent knowledge that went a long with our weeks activities.
On Monday I did a quick review of important concepts and key terms and then turned the class over to watch a great overall video about immigration. This video touched on a lot of the different areas that I felt were necessary for the students to know in order to understand immigration. It covered different ethnic groups, reasons for immigrating, their journey, experiences once in the America, living conditions, and jobs. The students really took to why different immigrant groups came to the United States, such as the Irish Potato Famine, or war in their home country.
After this I had them explore their text so that they could see that we can get information on the same topic from a wide variety of sources, discussion, videos, texts, and in other subject classes. I think it was extremely beneficial for the students to get to use all of these different sources in one class period. It is also nice because they are hour blocks and I feel like I am able to get a lot done in that period of time. Working with older students has also showed me that they can and like to work independently. Thats sometimes independent work is more beneficial to them instead of me sitting and lecturing about a topic. They seem to retain more when they are responsible for looking up the information and completing the assignment.
On Tuesday I was able to get the mobile computer lab and bring it into the classroom so that the students would be able to complete a research/creative writing activity that I had developed. I created 4 guiding questions to aid in their research of a specific ethnic group. The students were then given time to look up information on their specific ethnic group and that information would help them in a writing activity that I would have them do on thursday. On Wednesday we went back to working on the computers and they were given time to finish their research and then do a worksheet that went a long with an interactive tour of Ellis Island.
The on friday they were given a writing prompt where they were asked to write as if they were an immigrant, of the specific ethnic groups they research, coming to the United States. I gave them guidelines of what I was looking for in their writing and that they needed to draw a picture to go with their writing. Once the students were actually done I read a few of them and I was extremely impressed at home well they did. I thought they would have a hard time writing in the first person and being able to express their feelings while going through the experience that an immigrant did. Overall I was pretty happy with the week teaching wise and how my students were able to retain the information. I also plan on using the creative writing activity in my action research inquiry.